


Still Waters Run

by Sanjuno



Series: Truth In Hyperbole [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Family Drama, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, Gods and Demons exist, I Don't Even Know, I Was Drunk When I Wrote This, It came out mostly okay?, So these characters are all technically canon, They are not happy with the Sage, When Reality Bitch Slaps You With Steel Gloves, Women Being Awesome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-04
Updated: 2017-09-04
Packaged: 2018-12-23 15:41:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11992800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sanjuno/pseuds/Sanjuno
Summary: The Sage of Six Paths has watched over the chakra imprints of his sons as they traversed the Cycle of Transmigration. Life after life that always ended the same way.Indra would go mad, and Asura would slay him for the good of the world.Then there came the day when the Cycle...stopped.(The Sage confronts Hatake Kira, mother of Senju Tobirama on the Riverbank. It does not go well.)





	Still Waters Run

**Author's Note:**

> I'm doing a thing on my tumblr where the first nine asks of September get a prompt filled. Go check it out if you're curious, I'm [@sanjuno](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/sanjuno).
> 
> This was Pandafleur's ask, who wanted more Blood Price. Ta-dah~*jazz hands*

=/=

There were unexpected downsides to mastering ones chakra to the fullest extent that did not become evident until much later. One of such was remaining a cohesive and separate entity even after ‘death’ and joining with the Chakra of the World. It was an existence echoed in the monsters that had been born from his mother’s last desperate burst of chakra, before he and his brother had finally sealed her away. He disliked being reminded of it.

Ootsutsuki Hagoromo had inherited the longevity of both his mother’s _and_ his father’s peoples. It had taken him many long centuries to learn the method for releasing his earthly form. Even then, his existence resembled the in-between state the bijuu occupied. At once physical while at the same time being comprised wholly of chakra. He had been to only one of his close kin to shed his mortal shell. His twin, Homura, guarded their mother’s prison still, having assumed the lofty title of Shinigami at some point over the passing centuries. His first-born, Indra, had eventually shown signs of Kaguya’s madness and had needed to be put down. His younger son, Asura, had taken responsibility for his brother before Hagoromo had needed to step in.

Hagoromo had felt pride, then. Asura’s sense of duty and righteousness had made him Hagoromo’s true heir.

Only it would seem that such madness was infectious, and Indra’s children had renounced all relation to Asura and Hagoromo both. Had rejected the authority of the Ootsutsuki Royal House and renamed themselves. After _fans_ of all the ridiculous things! Even now, the cry of ‘ _kin-slayer_ ’ rang through the chakra of every Uchiha who came within throwing distance of a Senju.

It frustrated Hagoromo to no end. Asura had acted for the good of the world! Holding grudges was petty and infantile, but even so, Asura’s own daughter had split from her brothers and her father, choosing instead to found her own Clan out on some tiny spit of an island. Kanna had turned her back on her legacy, vowing to never allow any of her descendants to slay their own kin.

The Chakra of the World vibrated, an echo of Kaguya’s scream on the day she had lost her sense of self to a mad lust for more power.

Shaken from his solitary meditations, Hagoromo hurried to locate the source of the disturbance. The Cycle of Transmigration had been knocked awry. The lesson Hagoromo still strove to impart on his foolishly stubborn elder son was being _interfered_ _with_. How? Who could do _this_? Who _would_ do this? Anyone with the necessary power and knowledge followed the Way of Six Paths!

White lightning cracked across the ether. Hagoromo was struck down, shocked to the point of assuming a bodily image for the first time in over three centuries.

“Ah, the _Honoured_ Sage. Welcome!” Grinning with fanged teeth, lightning still sparking in her chakra, the spirit of a woman watched Hagoromo struggle upright with savage glee. “What brings you to my humble riverbank?”

“You!” Unable to fully comprehend what was happening, the Sage of Six Paths stared at the ghostly kunoichi. Had she _actually_ struck at him? “Who are you to strike at me?”

“In life, I birthed the child who hosted Asura’s chakra imprint.” Of all the things, the woman looked offended by the honour she had been granted. Asura was a strong, dutiful child. Who would _not_ wish him for their own son? “I am Hatake Kira, and I will _not_ allow you to waylay _my son_ in his quest.”

“You speak nonsense, woman.” The Sage frowned, disliking the need to speak to yet another who perpetuated the Cycle of Hatred, but needing to be sure she was aware of the truth. “Asura’s chakra rests in the Pure Lands awaiting the next Cycle of Transmigration.”

“That is all well and good, for you! But _Asura_ is not _my_ son, and thus is no concern of mine.” The ninja woman’s glare was fierce and proud and too much a reminder of all the worst traits found in humanity. No human who had ever looked at Hagoromo like that had ever managed to listen. “I speak of my Tobirama and his quest to make amends for his ill thought choices, so that he might win the regard of his beloved.”

Hagoromo scowled, uncertain and disliking the feeling as much as ever. _This_ was why he sought to discard the physical world. Too often the focus of effort was on petty nonsense and ridiculous notions. None of it _mattered_ once you were connected to the energy of the world around you.

The question of _how_ this petty spirit-woman’s matchmaking could interfere with the Cycle of Transmigration lingered at the back of Hagoromo’s mind. Asura awaited the next turn of the Cycle in the Pure Lands, as he should. Indra, was usual, was being _difficult_ and hiding again. In time the Cycle would catch Indra’s spirit and begin anew, so Hagoromo rarely bothered to chase his eldest’s chakra down…

No. She would _not_. She could not have _possibly_ meant…

“What have you _done_?” Obscured, and impossible to pin down, Hagoromo was nonetheless able to feel Indra’s chakra _rend itself open_. Like a peeled fruit, the unwanted rind discarded to be swept away into the Cycle. Asura’s Imprint was startled and confused and _gone_ , incarnated once again as the system Hagoromo had created dutifully did what it was intended to do. Only in doing so it denied Hagoromo a chance for _answers_. It was _too late_ to fix what had been broken. Hagoromo truthfully would not even know where to begin. Would the Cycle even _work_ with Indra’s chakra so changed? The core of Indra’s chakra, now shed of any trace of Hagoromo’s influence and tethers, barely felt like _Indra_ at all. It was the chakra core of a stranger, and only because Hagoromo had _felt_ it change did he know it had once belonged to his son’s Imprint.

Another chakra core, cool and bright like moonlight on still water, flared up, bright as grounded lightning. The chakra that had once been Indra’s burned like a wildfire, glorious as the sun setting over mountains. A brief moment of sound and fury before both signatures were gone from his senses.

“I did what _you’ve_ always been too much of a self-centered _coward_ to do!” Utterly unrepentant regardless of how many of the world’s foundations her actions had destroyed, the Hatake woman held her head up high, snarling in Hagoromo’s face. “I set my son free! Your Curse can’t touch him anymore! You can’t touch _any of them_ anymore!”

Hagoromo sputtered. “It’s not _my_ Curse!”

“ _Lies_.” Another woman stepped out of the mists. A _familiar_ woman. One who should not have been here. One he had last seen standing at Indra’s side. “So many lies you have told, for so long, that you now believe them truth.”

“You!” It should be impossible for a being of pure spirit to have a stress headache, but Hagoromo still felt his temples throb with the memory of frustration and endless irritation. “I should have _known_ this was your doing!”

“One is flattered by the Honoured Sage’s regard for this one.” Indra’s wife still had the same insufferable, inscrutable little smile. Her face, as always, held too still to read. Her dark eyes hiding secrets. Her chakra alien and _wrong_ , impossible for Hagoromo to parse even after all his centuries of practice. Hagoromo had never been able to fathom Indra’s passion for this cold, unloving creature. The first Matriarch of the Uchiha Clan flicked her fan. “One wonders why such surprise? One has always intended to seek out one’s Beloved Husband once circumstances aligned in favourable fortune.”

“How is _this_ anything like you ‘seeking out’ Indra?” Hagoromo gestured at the Hatake kunoichi. “Her son is allegedly _courting_ Indra _right now_.”

“Wrong~!” The silver haired woman smirked, hands panted on her hips. “Tobirama’s courting _Madara_. Totally different people! Plus, now that Indra’s soul has been pulled loose once he’s a little bit more awake! Next time it’ll be even easier, and easier again the next time after that. Soon enough Aiko will have her mate back in one piece and untainted!”

Indra’s wife smiled at the ghost, small and fond. “Just so.”

“You’re both mad.” Hagoromo took an unconscious step in retreat. “How dare you? How _dare_ either of you interfere with Indra’s redemption? He is my son! What gives you the _right_?”

“What _right_ , Ootsutsuki Hagoromo? _This one_ is the reason you lived! _This one_ was she who sacrificed for the life of her Lady! The Lady you betrayed and slew! _This one_ only sought to love her Lady’s _true_ heir as he deserved!” The shadow of massive wings fell over the riverbank, mantled high in anger. “That one took so long to learn this one’s new life is this one’s greatest regret! By the time this one was fledged in full, this one’s Lady was lost beyond retrieving. So this one devoted all of one’s new life to the safe-keeping of Lady Kaguya’s bloodline.”

Hagoromo stared, for once unsure of his place. “Who _are_ you? _What_ are you?”

“One is Aiko.” With a huff, Indra’s wife smoothed back her hair, flicking her fan in dismissal. The same disrespectful chit who had appeared at Indra’s side one day, both of them smiling at one another as rain fell from a sunlit sky. The same uncaring woman who had disappeared from her rooms the day Asura brought Indra’s body home, not even reappearing for the funeral. “As one has always said.”

“What, you don’t recognize the woman who ensured that your Honourable Mother lived long enough to birth you and Homura?” Hagoromo whirled, words stuck in his throat as yet another woman he knew in life stepped down to the riverbank. “For shame, husband! You should know your own history better than this.”

“Amaterasu.” To either side of the gorgeous woman stood her brothers, solemn Tsukiyomi and savage Susanoo. Neither spoke, letting their sister lead as they glared over her shoulders. Hagoromo shook his head, reeling from the implications. “How are you a part of this? You _left_. You left and you never returned!”

“You bored me. Mitoko seemed to entertain you well enough.” Amaterasu laughed in the Sage’s flabbergasted face. “Did you think I didn’t _know_ , Hagoromo? You forsook your father’s throne long before you took me to wife, O _Venerable Sage_. You had no right nor need of a concubine. You didn’t even have the decency to invite me to join in! Of _course_ I left you. Indra understood my reasons when I explained, and he was smart enough to ask me to make a match for him when he came of appropriate age.”

“Oh, yes.” The Hatake woman gestured to Amaterasu in all her Glorious Radiance. “Guess who gave us the _goddess given right_ to stop Indra’s punishment. Wonderful thing about being a _mother_ , it gives you higher spiritual authority than the father when it comes to defending your children.”

Hagoromo shook his head once again, mind reeling. “But gods are just _myths_.”

“Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.” The Inugami bared her fangs, the strength of Tenrou in her spirit.

“You were blind to all things but what _you_ had decreed deserving of truth.” The Crane Wife scoffed, her spirit bound to immortality with love and loyalty that defied death.

“Three times have you offended the gods, Ootsutsuki Hagoromo. Once, when you bound the Rabbit Goddess to a stone prison, rather than seeking the cure for _jubokko_ poisoning. Twice, when you broke your vows to me to dally between a mortal woman’s legs. Third, and most final, you trespassed on the dominion of the gods by forcing your own selfish will on the Cycle of Reincarnation. Had we not taken action, the soul of Ootsutsuki Indra, the soul of _my son,_ would have been warped beyond recovery or any hope of enlightenment.” The Sun Goddess was terrible in her radiance, the glory of the Divine the power of her spirit. “And so you are judged! The Sage of Six Paths will be a _myth_. Your teachings _forgotten_. You shall be without power, without authority. You shall languish, and fade, unable to do aught but _watch helplessly_. You shall be one with the world, and removed from its conflicts. _Exactly_ as you _wished_.”

The Divine Mandate crashed down over him, and Ootsutsuki Hagoromo was swept away by the River.

/…/

_“At least Homura-sama lived up to his mother’s legacy.” Kira remarked, turning away from the River to grin at the fire dancing over distant mountaintops. That was her boy. Tobirama had this courting thing in the bag. “Did he argue against punishing the Sage?”_

_“Shi no Kami understands the Rules better than most enlightened mortals.” Tsukiyomi shook his head. “Besides, Homura says that he has managed to filter most of the Jubokko venom from his mother’s energies. We should be able to welcome our little rabbit home soon.”_

_“Truly? Kaguya-hime will return to us?” Aiko fluttered joyfully, clasping her hands to her chest. “Oh! Tenji-sama will be so happy!”_

=/=

**Author's Note:**

> So Pandafleur asked for the Sage's PoV on the Riverbank Scene in Blood Price and I hope you all know that I HAVE A VERY HARD TIME WRITING SELF-RIGHTEOUS MEN WHO THINK THEY KNOW EVERYTHING. BUT I DID MY BEST! Okay? Okay! ^_^
> 
> Honestly the only thing that got me through this scene was seeing the women gang up on the Sage to take him down a peg. Also don't ask me what that last bit was about I think I'm on a redemption kick for this _entire_ ridiculous 'verse.
> 
> Hope you're happy with it, Pandafleur!


End file.
